Richard Dean Anderson's
Response To MacGimmick

In
response to Mad magazine's MacGyver parody, "MacGimmick", Richard Dean
Anderson sent the below letter to the editor in the March 1992 issue.

Get
out your magnifying glass! Here's the letter "MacGyver" star
Richard Dean Anderson sent us after reading our satire "MacGimmick"
in MAD #302! That's Richard reading the issue, which he has (in
best MacGyver-like fashion) transformed into a copy of MAD #307!

Some years back
my middle name was the answer to a 17 across TV Guide crossword query, and I truly felt my
career had reached its apex, I could go no further. In my wildest fantasy I could not have
conjured the honorable attention you have bestowed.

And you nailed
it! Our original and continuing concept has been to present an a-typical TV hero, a man of
thoughtful recourse rather than of traditional violence, and we have been pleasantly
successful with it. Of course, straying from the usual means of "beating the bad
guy" (let's say, cramming a few hollow-points into an organ or two) presents us with
some pleasant problems of our own. We have had the joy of using our imaginations for these
last six years and at times we've allowed ourselves to go ballistic and approach the
absurd, to get ridiculous, tongues deeply in cheeks... not unlike what my favorite
magazine does regularly.

But I honestly
wanted to thank you for busting us: for those of us flirting with the absurd, it was
hilarious acknowledgement.